Invest in a set of rechargeables. Mine last at least two months with daily use and recharge in a few hours when needed .

Agreed. I bought some Rayovac AA and AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries (use the AA's with my digital camera), with a charger that recharges them in less than 15 minutes. I have to recharge the batteries once every 2 months or so. If I really didn't want any downtime, I'd buy a second set of the batteries, but given that they recharge so quickly, I just do without my remote for a few minutes. Much cheaper by now, and I don't have to worry about making sure I have some spare AAA's hanging around.

The battery on my 880 is D-E-A-D. About two weeks ago, I noticed that the remote didn't seem to be making a good connection to the charging cradle. It would beep constantly (one beep, two beeps, one beep, etc), indicating that the contacts weren't maintaining connection. Finally it just died.
Logitech has told me that there is a slight flaw in some of the early units that causes this problem. They will be shipping me a new cradle in the next week or so. Unfortunately, after following the CSR's instructions, the battery is not charging. I'll have to get them to replace the battery, as well.
Has anyone else had this problem?

Yes I have the same problem and have to wiggle the remote in the cradle to get it to charge. If they are sending you a new cradle I should phone them and see if they will do the same for me.

Lots of folks are reporting this problem . . . pretty much all you have to do is tell Harmony though that you're having it . . . and they'll have a new cradle out to you in a few weeks. They're a bit pickier on the battery, but . . . stay on them! :)

No need to change the battery ... it is rechargable. When you get the new cradle, simply re-charge it.

Ahhh, but I think the problems with the cradle have screwed up my battery. I'm lucky if I can get a night's viewing without the battery dying. Far less than the week or so that most people can get.

So far, not really a big deal, I put the remote in the cradle every night for (hopeful) charging . . . . but, if I forget to do it one night . . . I have to pull the original remotes out again the next day to get through.

Yep your battery should last longer than a day. Mine lasts about 3~4 days.

The cradle will recharge if you take some manual steps to ensure the contacts touch, but because my battery fully discharged, it's like the "high water mark" is now zero, so there is no charging at all, no matter what I do to ensure contact.

Will the Harmony 880 handle the different options of my Yamaha receiver? Made the test drive at their site but can't tell if I can use the Harmony for all settings... change from a DSP program to Stereo or from Dolby Digital to DSP Spectacle.

I added custom buttons in the LCD panel for the different sound fields depending on what I was doing. If watching a movie, I would all Regular DD/ SCI-FI, or Adventure modes. If listening to music, I would allow OFF, Jazz, etc.

I added custom buttons in the LCD panel for the different sound fields depending on what I was doing. If watching a movie, I would all Regular DD/ SCI-FI, or Adventure modes. If listening to music, I would allow OFF, Jazz, etc.

And this is done directly with the Harmony (using the LCD panel) and not via the Logitech website?

Well, you would program it via the website, upload it to your remote, but . . . ultimately, you still control your receiver and other devices with the remote while sitting comfortably on the couch! :)

Well, you would program it via the website, upload it to your remote, but . . . ultimately, you still control your receiver and other devices with the remote while sitting comfortably on the couch! :)

The logitech website does enable the receiver for power and volume. Now, when you say "ultimately, you still control your receiver and other devices with the remote while sitting comfortably on the couch" what exactly can I control in the case of the Yamaha receiver? The different DSP programs?

You should be able to control anything with the Harmony remote that you could control with the OEM Yamaha remote. You would program the buttons to show up on the LCD screen once you've selected an activity, "Watch TV", "Listen to CD's", etc.

Also, while in an activity, you can press the "Devices" button, then choose your Yamaha equipment, and the LCD will let you scroll through every command (and then some) that your device will accept. Inconvient in once sense, but, ideally, anything you're doing on a regular basis, you're programming into your LCD anyway. So you should never have to pull out the original remote again.

But the long and short of it is . . . any button you have on your Yamaha remote, you can put on your Harmony. :D

Thank you for the response.

Received my 880 Monday. Works like a charm, better than expected actually.

Took me a while to figure out that I can access not only "Activities", with their respective Icons, but also "Devices" and their respective pages of commands. Found everything I needed.

Another happy conversion . . . . I feel like a cult leader with this remote sometimes! :)

Jer

I am getting a replacement cradle and remote. The remote is being RMA'ed due to LCD washout from right to left, the tech guy said that they have seen this in a small % of remotes. Am also getting a cradle due to charging issues (have to move it around a little to get it to sit right) He also said they are aware of this, and it's because the little sensors on the cradle are too sensitive and the push down too far when you put the remote on it....

BUT...got an email today that the remotes are on backorder so my replacement will take longer...but my current works so its all good :)

~Andrew

But the long and short of it is . . . any button you have on your XXXX remote, you can put on your Harmony. :D

Does this apply to all models? I am more interested in the lower cost 680 and 520 models.

Yes. See the following post for pictures of them.

http://digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showpost.php?p=239190&postcount=25